


Cruel Twist of Fate

by iseult1124



Series: Tumblr Bits and Bobs [4]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Academy Era, First Date, Fluff, M/M, Tumblr Prompt, sick!fic, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-17
Updated: 2014-04-17
Packaged: 2018-01-19 18:53:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1480336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iseult1124/pseuds/iseult1124
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Today is the big day! The day Jim has been looking forward to...too bad his body has the worst timing in the world!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cruel Twist of Fate

**Author's Note:**

  * For [shiptoomuch](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shiptoomuch/gifts).



> Dear Anneliese is feeling rather poorly, and as a result will be missing her own first date. She left me an adorable prompt on tumblr, and this is my humble attempt to oblige her.
> 
> I hope you feel better soon luv!

Jim Kirk was not one to whine about the decided lack of fairness in life. As a matter of fact, he was usually first in line to point out how unfair life generally is—after all, he has first hand knowledge of that.

That doesn’t change the fact that whining about the unfairness of it all is exactly what he wants to be doing right now. 

It’s certainly better than focusing on the throbbing headache that has settled behind his eyes, the aches wracking his body, the churning of his stomach, and the disappointment of what that meant. 

Yes, life was playing a cruel joke on Jim.

Today was supposed to be a special day; a day he’d looked forward to for almost a week. Ever since he’d gotten up the nerve to say something. 

He should have been in class right now, struggling to fight down the excitement that had been building so that he could pay attention. Counting down the hours until he could dash back to his room, take a quick shower and dress in his—well, not finest, because that would be overkill, but certainly nicer than usual.

Because tonight he had a date.

And not just any date.

A _First_ Date.

_With Bones._

Jim had felt himself getting sick for a couple days now. A heaviness settling into his limbs, and a feeling of exhaustion that went bone deep; but a healthy dose of denial, and an even healthier dose of excitement made it incredibly easy to ignore the signs.

Falling back to sleep immediately after being woken by his alarm was his first clue that the day was not going to go according to plan. The second clue was the nausea that woke him several hours later, well after he should have been to class. The aches, including the one weighing down his head, made themselves know as soon as he broke through the last vestiges of sleep.

Oh yes; and there are the chills. Right on schedule. 

Jim did not want to have to cancel the date. He resisted with every fibre of his being. But seeing as he also didn’t want to get out of bed, he didn’t think he had much choice.

He reached around for his comm, intending to message Bones and let him know they’d have to reschedule. By the time he got it in his hands, and his head stopped spinning from the sudden movement, Jim remembered that Bones was supposed to be in the clinic all day.

Jim sat—slouched really—in his bed, swaddled in blankets, debating. If he sent Bones a message Jim wouldn’t need to get out of bed at all unless nature demanded it. But on the downside that would just lead to a worried Bones. And a worried Bones liked to fret, and scold, and jab people with hypos. 

Okay, that last one may just be for Jim. Or maybe all of them, really.

If he went down to the clinic, though, he could talk to Bones about it in person; and if Jim was lucky, Bones may even be able to make Jim feel a bit less like death warmed over. 

Decision made, Jim dragged himself from his nest and went about the agonizingly slow process of changing into a fresh pair of sleep pants and a tee-shirt that wasn’t soaked through with sweat. Grabbing his comm and pulling on a light sweatshirt, Jim shuffled towards the door; tucking his comm in his pocket before palming open the door. He paused in the doorway, taking a deep breath as though gearing himself up for a Herculean task, before heading out. 

The walk to the clinic was exhausting. Jim had never been so grateful for the benches periodically placed on the walkways winding around the campus, allowing him to stop and rest as needed.

When he finally made it to the clinic, Jim pasted a cheery, charming (if he did say so himself) smile on his face and asked the receptionist if ‘Dr. McCoy’ was available. Judging by the expression on her face, Jim’s attempts at a cheery, charming smile had fallen rather short. She assured him that Bones would be paged, though, and suggested in a rather worried voice that Jim take a seat while waiting.

Must be he looked as bad as he felt.

Jim dropped into the chair nearest the reception desk, thankful to be off his feet. His head was spinning again, probably because he’d pushed himself too hard to get from his dorm to the clinic. Hoping the spinning would stop if he held still Jim let his head rest on the wall behind him and shut his eyes.

"Jim? What’s wrong?" Bones worried voice drifted over to Jim, startling him out of the haze he had settled in. Jim gingerly lifted his head off the wall and slowly opened his eyes, looking over at his friend.

"Hey Bones," Jim didn’t even bother trying for peppy or carefree; he hadn’t the energy, "I think we’re going to have to cancel our date tonight." A rather wan smile crossed Jim’s lips as he watched the worried frown on Bones’ face deepen.

"You’re scaring me a bit Jim; I don’t think I’ve ever seen you walk in here of your own volition."

"I’m not a complete idiot Bones. Besides, I was going to just stay in bed and comm you, but I figured you would worry yourself sick the rest of your shift."

Jim was relieved to see some of the worry melt into fond, slightly exasperated, amusement. Unable to resist the urge to tease, he added, “It’s really just for my own benefit—I don’t want to get jabbed with a hypo again.”

Bones snorted at that and finished crossing the waiting room floor. He hooked his hand under Jim’s elbow, easing him out of the chair and guiding him toward the exam rooms.

Ducking into the first free room, Bones gently settled Jim on the biobed and grabbed his tricorder.

"So what’s going on, Jim? What’re your symptoms?"

"I ache all over, my head is pounding like someone decided to use it as their own personal drum, and nausea. And chills."

Bones nodded his head while listening, eyes on the tricorder as he scanned Jim. “Any coughing?”

Jim titled his head in thought. “No. Not really. Although my throat is a bit sore now that I’m thinking about it.”

Bones nodded again, relief stealing across his face. “You’ve managed to come down with the flu, but I think we caught it pretty early. Let me give you an antiviral and a fever reducer.”

He turned away from Jim to grab the necessary hypos, and laughed at the grimace on Jim’s face when he returned.

"You know Jim," Bones drawled as he gently pressed the hypos to Jim’s neck in rapid succession (he had come in voluntarily after all, and good behavior should be rewarded), "When you said ‘date’, nursing you through the flu isn’t exactly what I had in mind."

Jim chuckled ruefully before wincing at the pain that action had caused. “I know Bones; wasn’t what I had in mind either. I wanted to take you out to a nice dinner, maybe head down to the Bay—” Jim trailed off, regret clear in his voice.

A soft smile played at Bones lips, and he leaned forward to press a light kiss to Jim’s forehead. “We’ll just have to reschedule when you’re better, because I refuse to have _this_ be our first date.”

Not even the flu could dim the smile that brought to Jim’s face.

**Author's Note:**

> Like this? Feel free to drop by my [my ask box](http://docoflaherty.tumblr.com/ask) and leave me a prompt - if we're both very lucky it'll get the writing juices flowing!


End file.
